Monday, October 3, 2016

Things I heard while putting up my decorations {Countdown to Halloween Day 3}

What a weekend! As I said before, I was late this year in prep for putting out Halloween. I usually have everything up by the last week in Sept! I had taken Thursday and Friday off to get things rolling before October 1st.

Thursday was mostly mowing, cleaning, putting up summer stuff. I did manage to get the Skeletons up on the house and most of the main electrical lines ran around the yards with timers.

Friday we put out the entire haunt, got the silhouettes up in the windows, and got half the lighting done. By Saturday we had all the lighting done, but only 1 of the 5 projector windows up and running.

Saturday was also the day that we went to visit a new Haunted House just down the road. I was able to tag along with a group for our local Haunted Forest which was a treat in and of itself. I did not do a full review with pictures, simply because they did not ask for it, but I would be willing to go back. If I had to rate it, I would give it a solid 3 out of 5. There were actually some great parts and it really scared M a few times!

While spending 16 hour days, Thursday and Friday, putting out the haunt....there were a lot of visitors... and I mean A LOT. We are known around town as "The Halloween House People" or "The Meade Manor Guys" so when word gets out we have started, the visitors come running. I actually had people showing up a week ago asking, "Hey, you're late getting your stuff out? You are still decorating right?" It can be difficult talking to enthusiastic neighbors while you are carrying a reall coffin on your back by yourself, but I would rather they be happy and thrilled than sour. Here is a list of quotes I heard those days or as near as I can recall:

"Thank God you are decorating!"
"Looks good!"
"Oh My God that is so scary! I cannot wait"
"I am gonna run and get my camera!" This was said by the preacher from next door who did indeed come back not once but twice to take pictures.
"Can we come this way every day mom? Please!?!?!"
"How does your wife sleep in there?"
"I would hate to see your light bill. With all these lights it will cost you$400 dollars Easy!" Actually we are running 100% on LED lights. The total wattage of LED's equals about what you would have with a set of 300 Christmas string lights.
"This is the best Halloween House ever!"
"I love this house! When I get old, I am gonna make my papaws house just like this!" said by a little boy on a bike with his 2 friends in tow.
"Mom! I think I peed in my pants a little, this is scary stuff!"
"My little girl is going to freak out when she hears you are setting up!"
"Is this a Haunted House? Like can you pay to go in?"
"How much do you charge to go through it?" we are not "pay and go through" attraction.
"Is any of that stuff real? Like is there dead people in your yard?" next door neighbor kid.

It was overwhelming all the positive comments and praise I received. If I had a quarter for every thumbs up and horn honk I received, I could buy a steak dinner! There were 2 incidents that really bug me, and I only include them here for educational purposes of my readers.

Two teenage punks walked by heading to town and they were loudly discussing a sexual encounter with a young lady. They were unaware of me hidden behind a fountain laying out an electrical grid. One of the little punks glanced over and said something along the lines of , "Whoa! Look at that! That is some messed up Sh*t. Anybody that would go that far with Halloween had to have been molested when they were a kid...there is something wrong with them.". It was then I stood up so they could see me and I walked along the same path they were taking. They never said another word, just increased their pace and were soon gone.

The second incident was a little closer to home. Our next door neighbor's boy (around 6 or 7) came over looking at the decorations. He was excited and wide eyed. He turned to me and asks, "Do you believe in God?". I asked, "Why do you ask that?" . The little boy goes on to say, "All this stuff celebrates the Devil's Birthday, so do you believe in God or do you worship the devil?" I told him in a very stern voice, "Halloween has nothing to do with that at all! That is a lie! I do not know who told you that lie, but you go back and tell them all that is a crock of bull sh*t! Tell them I told you that too!".

Just makes me angry. Small minding people spreading their small minded ideas to other small minds...oh well!

4 comments:

I LOVE that you did not beat around the bush with the little boy. He can't even know what he's saying yet, simply spouting that fear mongering tripe which his parents fed him. Small minded people make me sad and angry at the same time. - Vanessa

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About wicKED

My name is Ked and I am one of the biggest fans of all things Halloween, a Halloween enthusiast if you will. Looking to learn, share, and celebrate all wicKED things. You will find fact, fiction, reviews, rankings, humor, and horror in these pages. I hope to bring the spirit of Halloween to all, especially those that live locally.
I have over 20 years experience in the commercial haunted house industry, running haunts for various non profits and charities. I have also worked at the advisory level for two nationally operating Haunted Houses as well as a subject matter expert for a syndicated talk show.
I live with my wonderfully supportive wife, M, and our troop of enigmatic feline companions in a valley of the beautiful mountains of South West Virginia.
I hope you find my blog as entertaining as I do writing it. Have a wicKED time!